Article for cleaning shoes



y 4, 1939- H. c. PARKER ET AL 2,165,150

ARTICLE FOR CLEANING SHOES Filed Oct. 8, 1935 Patented July 4, 1939 e,

, UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE ARTICLE FOR CLEANING SHOES Henry 0. Parkerand Elizabeth W. Parker, Washington, D. G.

. Application October 8, .1935, Serial No. 44,091 3 Claims. (Cl. 15-105)This invention relates to article for cleaning ly, and can beaccomplished without soiling the shoes; and it comprises an article ofrubber or hands. Moreovera rubber cleaner can be readily the likeadapted to be rubbed, for example, on shaped to fit into the recessbetween the sole a white shoe and impregnated with sufiicient and'thevamp, which is always difiicult to reach 5 white pigment filler to leavea visible pigment with liquid cleaners. The cleaner can be conmark whenso rubbed; and it also comprises a structed in such fashion that thereis no danger method of cleaning white shoes, for example, of whiteningthe sole of the shoe. The rubber wherein said article is rubbed on sucha shoe l ner is i exp sive and h cleaning p until said shoe is cleanedand pigmented; all tion is easily and quickly accomplished.

as more fully set forth and as claimed. We usually construct our rubbercleaner with 10 The cleaning of pigmented shoes of the nature twoends-connected with a hand grip. It is also of white shoes has longpresented a problem to advantageous to provide an attached brush for theart. The lack of a suitable cleaning method removing detached p r i lesof rubber or for has greatly restricted their use. The best cleandustingOff the Shoes prior to eleaning- If desired ers which have thus far beendeveloped comp r can also be p v W usually shape 15 prise variousaqueous suspensions of chalk and the rubber ends Such manner that y arethe like which are applied by means of a rag, particularly d p ed t0 fitthe contour of the sponge or brush. This procedure is supposed Shoe. Itis convenient to have the two ends t deanes n as t whiten t Shoes t thof the cleaner of different rubber composition.

amount of cleaning obtained .is negligible. At One for example y be f sb i lly best the dirty shoe is coated with a white chalky pure rubber Wth the usual amount of fillers and layer i h poorly conceals it tcondition can be used for cleaning where whitening is not and which, intime, flakes off. These cleaners required- It can also be usedforremoving y cannot be applied uniformly and a streaked coatte markingswhich may h been pp m is produced The Operation is extremelyaccidentally to the sole of the shoe. In any case 25 messy and teohsuming t i impossible t it is advantageous to have at least one edgemade prevent, the cleaner from reaching and soiling Of ordinary rubberwhich can be used 101 cleanthe sole of the shoe which is not supposed tobe Without Whitening. It is also desirable to white and it is difiicultto remove the cleaner provide a prejectil'lgeemer edge Shaped 0 fit fromt Sole t is h wonder t t shoe into the recess between the sole and thevamp. 30 shining parlors charge more for cleaning w t and in this casethe edge which comes into conahd th i t d shoes th for shoes 0f tactwith the solecan be made of ordinary rubether h ber in order to preventcontamination of the Rubber is one of the most universally employed801ecleaning agents. Rubber erasers have been used In Compoundingthe'rllbber used in y c eaner 35 for fifty years or more. And. it is notnew to for white shoes any of the usual whitenin introduce sufficientfiller inter rubber erasers terials can be employed which are now usedin to produce slight tints. For example it has been the liquid cleaners.Prepared chalk, whiting, suggested to introduce a greenish coloredfiller zinc white, white lead, barytes, titanium oxide 4 into rubbererasers in order to imitate the color and t k are examples Ordinarhy thesame 40 of w i i p p and to counteract theusual pigment can be employedin the cleaner that Smudge left upon erasure- Apparently 1t has is usedin coloring the-leather of the shoe during never been suggested,however, to employ rubber manumctura The pigment is mixed with the mcleanmg 2 Whlte i g h f rubber by milling in the ordinary way .and is 45use 0 sponge m er app ors 1S excep e employed in quantities sufiicien'tto leave a dis- Ordinary'rubber erasers are not satisfactory for thecleaning of white shoes owing to the fact vtmct plgmented mark on the hThe exact proportions to be employed vary to some extent that they areincapable of removing the stains which are produced When the Shoes areWorn in with the pigment which is used. The determinathe rain, forexample. We have found, however, tion of suitable proportions is wellwithin the 50 t t when rubber is impregnated t m t skill of the art. Itwill be found ordinarily that white, chalk-like filler to make adistinct white rellghly twice the usual ount of filler used mark whenrubbed on a shoe a highly satisfactory in making rubber erasers must bemp y s y cleaning and whitening action is produced. No from 40 to 85percent by weight, depending upon liquid is necessary, hence theoperation is cleanthe pigment used. The quantity should not 55projecting corner 1 found to be highly satisfactory as shoe cleaners.

By rubbing these strips over a soiled white shoe, it was found that theshoe could be both cleaned and whitened.

In the accompanying drawing we have shown several illustrativeembodiments of shoe cleaners of various shapes and styles within ourinvention.

In this showing: 7

Fig. 1 represents an elevational view of a double ended rubber cleaner,

Fig. 2 is a side view of the cleaner shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3is an elevation of a single ended cleaner,

Fig. 4 is a side view of the cleaner of Fig. 3,

Fig. 5 shows a modification with a metal insert, while, V

Fig. 6 shows a further modification.

In the various figures like parts are indicated by like referencenumerals. In Fig. 1 a metal casing l is shown, in one end of which issecured a rubber cleaner 2 having a white filler. At the other end asimilar piece 3 of ordinary rubber is shown. A brush 4 is also mountedon one side of the casing I. The rubber pieces 2 and 3 are roughlyshaped to fit the curvature of a shoe as shown at 5. The projecting ends7 and 8 are adapted to enter and clean the recess between the sole andthe vamp.

The edges may be merely blunt as shown 'at 9 or may be tapered inarcuate manner as shown at ill, see Fig. 2. I

The purpose of providing a portion 3 of the cleaner of ordinary rubberis to enable a person to clean the shoes before whitening. This has beenfound to be an advantageous method of cleaning and whitening shoes.After the whitening operation, the detached particles of rubber may bebrushed 011 if desired. To leave these particles on the shoe produces aduller finish.

In Fig. 2 an embodiment is shown wherein the rubber piece 3 has aconcave face I 0 roughly shaped to fit the contour of a shoe.

The embodiment shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is provided with a handle H with abrush 4 at one end and the cleaner 2 at the other. The handle I I may bemolded from any of the ordinary plastic compositions or may be hardrubber or metal. The cleaner 2 is provided with a strip l2 of rubberhaving a smaller amount of filler. This strip can be obtained byapplying a coating of rubber solution to this edge of the cleaner orthis strip of rubber can be vulcanized to the larger piece or rubbercontaining white filler. The purpose of strip I2 is to prevent the soleof the shoe from being marked during cleaning.

The cleaner of Figs. 3 and 4 is provided with a adapted to clean therecess between the sole and the vamp.v It also has an dent to thoseskilled in the art.

arcuate surface [3 which roughly fits the contour of the shoe.

In Fig. 5 a metal insert I5 is shown attached to one edge of thecleaner. This metal protects the sole from being marked. It also can beused as a scraper. The metal can be secured to the rubber by knownadhesives forming a tight joint.

In Fig. 6 a modification is shown in which two pieces of rubber arevulcanized together, one piece 2 containing pigment and the other piece3 containing insufficient pigment to color the shoe. The cleaner istapered to a point which comes at the joint between the two rubbersections. Thus a pigmenting portion and a cleaning portion are provided.If point 9 is rubbed into the recess between the sole and the vamp of ashoe the sole will not be whitened.

It is of course obvious that many other modifications can be made whichfall within the scope of our invention. cleaner may be used. It is noteven necessary to employ a handle since the brush can be secureddirectly to the rubber. And a brush can be dispensed with in the cheaperforms. Various types of white fillers can be employed. Or if the shoes--are of colored suede a filler can be used which matches the color of theshoe. Thus a bronze colored filler can be used for cleaning bronzesuede, etc. In this case a wire brush can be provided for brushing upthe nap of the suede. Our

invention is thus applicable to the cleaning of all types of pigmentedshoes, that is, shoes which require an application of pigment whencleaned.

Various shapes and sizes of.

It is possible to employ theso-called synthetic rubber and rubbersubstitutes in our invention in place of true rubber. The term rubber inthe following claims is intended to cover such equivalents. Many othermodifications within the. scope of the following claims will What weclaim is:.

1. A cleaner for pigmented shoes comprising a piece of rubber having aprojecting portion adapted to clean the recess between the sole and thevamp of a shoe and an adjacent arcuate section being a continuation ofsaid projecting por-' tion adapted to fit the contour of the vamp, saidpiece of. rubber containing suflicient colored pigment to produce avisible rubbed on a shoe.

2. The cleaner of claimYl wherein one edge of said projecting portion isprovided with means for protecting the sole of the shoe from pigmentwhile being cleaned.

3.'An article for cleaning and coloring pigmented shoes comprising atwo-faced portion adapted'to clean between the sole and the vamp of ashoe, one of said.- faces being adapted to be rubbed against the sole ofsaid shoe without coloring the same and the directly opposed face beingadapted to be simultaneously rubbed against the vamp of said shoe; saidlatter face being composed of rubberhaving sufficient pigment compoundedtherewith to produce a visible colored mark on said shoe. 7

HENRY c. PARKER. ELIZABETH w. PARKER.

pigmented mark when V be immediately evi- 7

